


(Dark) Angel with No Wings

by orphan_account



Category: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Genre: AU all the way!, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Blood, F/M, Making Out, Non-Graphic Violence, RUFF THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, Robot/Human Relationships, Supernatural Sci-Fi, honorary grandma tough-love Phyllis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 08:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4173531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was built to fight, and if by any means necessary, kill. Bionic sidekicks were the new normal for heroic teams, and she was just another one on the very long list. He was the hero, the one who saved the world, gave faith and hope to those who needed it... and yet, he fell weak around the cyborg who could feel nothing.</p><p>His heart would race, and all she could do was blankly stare at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. who has to know when we live such fragile lives?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruff_ethereal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/gifts).
  * Inspired by [in the end, i wanna be standing at the beginning with you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4017457) by [radiowrittenheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/pseuds/radiowrittenheart). 



> So, basically, Sashi is a bionic sidekick and Penn is somehow falling in love with her. That's literally all you need to know. However, if you would like to see where this story originally started, I recommend reading chapters six, thirty-three and thirty-eight of "in the end, i wanna be standing at the beginning with you" and then, go blame ruff_ethereal.
> 
> Warning: This is gonna get really fucked up really fast. I don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore.

_**~chapter one~** _

_**who has to know when we live such fragile lives?** _

_**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~** _

She was screaming, maybe wailing, and if possible, she’d be crying. Sashi’s hands were covered in blood, and she had fallen to her knees, continuing to scream continuously, letting the blood trickle down her arms and slowly drip to the floor. This mission had gone all wrong… because of her.

“Sashi,” Penn muttered, staring coldly at her. “Oh, God-” He covered his mouth and no, she couldn’t be seeing those senseless tears in his eyes-

The rest was a blur. There was Boone helping her up, the three of them getting zapped back to the Odyssey, and all Sashi wanted to do was keep fighting, go back and slaughter a few more people, but seeing that look on Penn’s face-

-her systems were registering it as disappointment, shock - and fear?

He was scared- of her?

There was no time for Sashi to register what she had contemplated, because she was dragged away from her team by The Creator. Yes, that’s what she had programmed to call the woman who had manufactured her, along with “ma’am” and “miss”. While Penn and Boone had the privilege of referring to her as Phyllis, and occasionally treating her like perhaps she was a family member of sorts, Sashi was trained to feel no attachment to The Creator, only the sense of reliance.

“What happened?” The Creator hissed.

“Hey, Phyllis, go easy on her,” Boone spoke up. “She snapped. That’s all.”

Penn didn’t say anything. He still stood there on the warp pad, obviously shaken up- and no, no, he couldn’t have been scared. Her sensors must have interpreted it wrong. They had to have.

“I killed some… things,” Sashi admitted.

The blood on her hands was already drying, and her expression was contorting into something horrifying. With a death grip on the arm of the automaton, The Creator dragged Sashi up the stairs to the nearest workshop. There was the blur of wipes to retain her metal hands and arms back to their pristine, twistedly perfect condition, the repairing of her scratched specs, and yet, she didn’t pay any mind to it. Phyllis was in charge; she always had been since the beginning, since Sashi was nothing but nuts, bolts and scrap wires on a table.

Instead of focusing on her daily checkup, Sashi’s blank, ebony eyes were fixated on Penn… who was almost shaking as he walked out of the rundown theater. How strange humans can be, she realized. One minute, he fawned over her. Now what? Was he scared, or did her systems get corrupted by the lifeblood of the souls she had slaughtered, due to her wicked programming?

She couldn’t answer those questions. Not when she saw that dreaded plug in front of her.

“No,” Sashi choked out.

“What?” Phyllis snapped. She shoved the plug into the face of her creation. “Charge now. You need it.”

“I don’t want it,” Sashi declared, backing away.

There were days when The Creator would forcibly plug her in, make her stay up here on this balcony for hours, sometimes even days- and was it right for The Creator to do such a thing? Maybe. Maybe not. Sashi would never know. She followed orders and protocol, and when she didn’t, like now, it was because of a glitch.

Every single model of who she was, it was always flawed. According to her sensors, Sashi could see that Phyllis blamed herself. Perhaps, in those two hearts of hers, she did care for her creation, just a little.

But it seemed that today was a lucky day. Instead, The Creator threw the plug down, letting it droop over the cyborg’s feet. With mutters and mumbles about mistakes and upgrades, Phyllis took her coffee mug and one of her remotes, leaving Sashi alone with her buzzing veins, malfunctioning mind and still metal frame.

There were days Sashi envied emotions; anger, joy, sadness, fear, disgust, delight, desire-

-love.

Of all the human sensations to be had, that was the one that stumped her most. And how ironic, but it was the one she questioned most profoundly around the hero boy - and of course, Penn felt that for her, in a twisted sort of way.

That is, until today. Curse that famous God she heard so much about. What had caused Penn to look so fearful?

He knew what she was capable of, what she was meant to do, he had told her himself.

_“You’re a hunk of metal.”_

_“I’m a freak who loves a killing machine.”_

_“I wish you could be a real girl.”_

Everytime they were alone, he mentioned it. Sometimes, he would even cry over the fact that his dream girl really was nothing but a sick dream, maybe even a nightmare. And she would take it all in, letting him act foolish towards her with his feelings. After all, another one of her purposes was to help the hero, no matter how extreme the task.


	2. when you close your eyes, tell me what you see

**_~chapter two~_ **

**_when you close your eyes, tell me what you see_ **

**_~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_ **

She had no idea why she did it for him, but she did. She’d let him place his warm, soft lips on her cold, metal ones. He’d cradle her body, full of electric sensors and wires, and she would play along. She saw enough girls in the school hallways with their boyfriends to get an idea of what to do, even if she faltered every now and then. He liked it, he liked her, yet she would never understand why.

“You need to breathe,” Sashi spoke up as Penn dove in for another kiss, so soon, so quickly - if she needed oxygen, she would definitely have a lack of it by now.

“I’m getting plenty of air, don’t worry,” he teased.

The comment was ignored, and she placed a hand on his chest, gently pushing him away. Humans didn’t have pause buttons, or off switches, so this was the closest thing she had. Still, it didn’t stop his affection towards her.

Sashi liked it, sort of. She didn’t quite get the idea of it, but for Penn’s sake, she went with it.

He laid her down on the couch, fiddling with her unnaturally silky hair, twirling it around his fingers.

“May I ask a question?” Sashi said, in the softest voice she could manage.

“You don’t need to act all professional like that with me,” Penn assured.

She bit back the statement that if she had a choice, she wouldn’t. But it was part of her programming, and no matter how many glitches, Sashi knew that try as she might, she’d never overpass it. She took note of his reply to her request, a simple nod and her sensors were alerting her that she was out of line, but she went ahead and managed to speak.

“What was that earlier?” she asked. “During the mission, when I killed those people-” She froze, ignoring the burning sensation of her sensors, telling her to stop. “-you seemed frightened. Was it because of me?”

Penn went still, and his blue eyes, an unidentifiable blue in her systems, went wide. “The blood freaked me out,” he mumbled. “That’s all.”

Sashi felt a flicker in the back of her mind, causing her to wince. “My lie detector says otherwise,” she replied.

His perplexment was clear to see, it seemed that her gadgets and powers never ended. He stammered, and avoided her gaze; still, stern and emotionless. “Look, it’s a natural feeling, I guess,” he said softly. “We both know I’m aware of what you can do- but… yeah. Seeing you slaughter those demon people things on the mission, it scared me a little.”

“Do I always scare you?” she said, her voice fading off into a fizzling static.

“No,” Penn declared. “No, Sashi, it's not like that.”

There was no spark or flicker; which made her grateful. But nonetheless, it confused her. It didn’t help when he suddenly started kissing her again, holding her face in his hands and making her systems go awry. They saw no purpose, no advantage or any logical reason to be doing such a thing, aside from helping this damaged hero boy. She tried to respond in the kiss, arching into his embrace and raking her fingers gently along his back.

Yet another little tic echoed in her mind-

“Why are we doing this?” Sashi blurted out as she broke away from him.

“We can stop if you want,” Penn said.

She had no choice. She never did. She was supposed to go with whatever he wanted, or however the plan was supposed to happen. “I just want to know,” Sashi said, lowering her glasses to look him properly in the eye. “If you were scared of me yesterday, why did you come back to me? Why are you infatuated with me all over again?”

He could say that he didn’t know - but they both knew it wasn’t an acceptable answer.

“You can’t change what you’re supposed to do,” Penn muttered. “I just need to get used to it.”

Sashi wasn’t going to bother with any more questions; it was wearing her out. Her energy level was already low for not plugging in the other day, so she let it be for now. Maybe there would be another time she could interrogate him, or rather- have the complicated puzzle of human emotions be explained to her. 

But was this love he felt for her?

It had to be… right?

She couldn’t figure it out. She was too busy trying to realize the mechanics of this kissing business.


	3. the vagabonds, ne’er-do-wells & insufferable bastards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a lyric from a Panic! at The Disco song which could very well easily be the theme song for this story. Just saying.

_**~chapter three~** _

_**the vagabonds, ne’er-do-wells & insufferable bastards** _

_**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~** _

_“Dude, there are weirder things in this world,”_ Boone had assured him a while back, when all of this madness had started. _“Just because she doesn’t have the fancy body parts of a lady doesn’t mean she can’t be your girl.”_

Penn was relieved to know that he had someone on his side. His parents didn’t even know about his unstable relationship with Sashi, Phyllis would warn him practically every minute of everyday about it, everyone at school was oblivious to Sashi’s true nature due to clever hiding in plain sight and of course, his aunt and uncle were too dense to realize what was going on. So he had most of his bases covered.

And yes, there was no denying the fact that no matter how many times he lied to himself, Penn knew Sashi wasn’t his girlfriend. She didn’t even know what the word meant, let alone understand the concept of affection.

That might have been what hurt the most. To see a painfully perfect girl who, in fact, was not a true girl.

But that was the thing. Sashi did seem genuine at times…

...except now, of course.

Penn didn’t expect to see the sight he first saw when he walked into the Odyssey that morning. Right there, spread out on a makeshift bench of theater seats, Sashi was cut open and Phyllis was working over her, hands covered in oil and other chemicals.

“Uh, do I-” he stammered, and froze upon seeing Sashi’s face.

Her jaw was slack, mouth wide open and eyes eerily still. Even if they were robotic, they were usually twitching or blinking somehow.

Phyllis grunted as she yanked out a handful of wiring. “Found her unconscious out front,” she muttered. “This what happens when she refuse to plug in. Will have to make wireless charge one of these days.” A foreign word, most likely a swear, slipped past her lips. “No sidekick, no mission today.”

“Oh,” Penn said softly.

It was strange to realize that only last night, he had the automaton in his arms, acting like she was - well, he wasn’t even entirely sure what she was. The Sashi in his mind and the one before him were so contradicting, it was almost painful. Reality over illusion was always painful, but he never realized how much until it would occasionally hit him, and when it did, it was like a ton of bricks.

He slumped down in one of the seats nearby, watching the technician operate on the cyborg.

Wires. Oil. Chemicals. Metal. Nuts and bolts. God knows what else.

Phyllis didn’t even look up to acknowledge the teenage boy as she began to talk to him, “You never realize what you got into, hmm?”

“Yeah,” Penn said softly.

Here it was. The constant warnings, the lectures-

“She has capability to kill you. Could hurt you if wasn’t programmed to be sidekick,” Phyllis muttered. “One glitch and-” She ran a finger across her neck for effect. A huff escaped her as she dug in her toolbox for a wrench. “-she gets lots of those. Never perfect. Cyborg is new technology.”

“I know,” Penn retorted, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yet you still try to think she is human,” Phyllis declared.

For a moment, he felt silent, with his arms folded over his chest and his gaze downcast. He wanted to not give her the satisfaction of an answer, but his mouth didn’t listen to his mind. “Sometimes,” Penn mumbled. “I don’t know.”

The technician sighed, and shook her head. She didn’t say anything aside from that. Phyllis wasn’t going to judge him. She couldn’t find the courage to do so- and yes, maybe her tough love wasn’t working this time, but the last thing she would want to do is hurt Penn. Knowing his parents for years and then playing a pivotal role in raising him made her compassionate for the boy. But what would be worse, she wondered. Hurting him herself or waiting for this machine to hurt him with gruesome wounds, inside and out?

Sashi was simply a creation to Phyllis. Something that could be fixed, repaired, even replaced. Penn, on the other hand, was only human.

“Be careful,” Phyllis muttered, lifting her goggles and looking at him sincerely. “Understand?”

“I understand,” Penn assured, with a nod. A barely-there sigh escaped him, and he got up from his seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Phyllis.”

He took a step towards the technician, wrapping an arm around her in a slight hug, which caused Phyllis to bestow the smallest grin. As a response, she ruffled his hair and playfully shoved him away. With a chuckle, Penn kept smiling- that is, until his gaze fell onto Sashi once again.

She was a mess. Then again, so was he. Hers was physical, and his was more or less mental.

His smile was faded as he waved Phyllis goodbye… and his other hand gently traced the frame of Sashi’s face while leaving.

The Odyssey was home to the technician and the automaton, and an occasional safe haven for the hero. But today, Penn didn’t exactly feel safe looking at the cyborg who tore apart his mind and make his heart ache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *INSISTS THAT PHYLLIS IS AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER*


	4. and you're the dynamite in my chains

**_~chapter four~_ **

**_and you’re the dynamite in my chains_ **

**_~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_ **

Sashi squeaked out a ding, and nearly fell to her knees in sudden shock, if not for- no. _No_ , **no** , _**no**_.

She was connected, wasn’t she?

She was.

That damned plug was in her. Of course. This was what she deserved for avoiding the Odyssey at all costs, to do anything except charge up with this hideous wire. She tried to yank it out, by resisting the hold of the plug, but the socket in her back was firm and the wire had plenty of slack- she could make it down the stairs before it would stretch all the way. Yet countless times, it was locked onto her. She wouldn’t escape until she was released by The Creator.

A strangled, ugly noise slipped past Sashi’s lips and she decided to fall anyway, fists in her hair and her eyes squinted shut as she crouched down on her knees. She suddenly froze up when there was a strange itching sensation near the sensors of her abdomen. Her heavy fingers traced the area, and she felt as if static overtook her body, like how a human would experience nausea.

There was a new scar. Another upgrade? What was it this time? She didn’t care. She didn’t want to know, she was too busy shaking. However, her specs lit up nonetheless. It alerted her that now she possessed a machine gun, in her arm, that could be summoned by bending her thumb back.

...what the hell was wrong with The Creator? Was she trying to influence Sashi to kill more souls? Of course, she would use the self-defense or worst case scenario excuse.

Didn’t Sashi have enough? All of these upgrades, the actions she could inflict upon herself; there was the jetpack, the heavy metal wings, the lie detector, the x-ray vision, super strength, katana blade fingernails- she was meant to be a guardian to the hero and the wiseman. Not _this_. This had to have been too much-

A sudden wave of heat flooded over Sashi, followed by a zap in her brain circuits. She whimpered, holding her head in her hands.

That was a punishment, she realized. But for what? Her glitches?

Or maybe it was a reminder to not glitch at all-

-there it was again, and this time, Sashi screamed at the impact of it suddenly doubled. Her voice fizzled off into nothingness, and she sat there on the balcony, trying to make this pain fade away. She focused on the Odyssey down below, causing the heat and zaps to slowly cease.

She tried to attempt that useless breathing exercise, and the oxygen in her wiry veins almost felt good. It gave her the strength to reach out for the railing of the balcony and get back on her feet, ignoring the plug, the pain, the Odyssey, everything…

...she went into sleep mode. That was what she needed right now.

 

**••••••**

 

Being awoken was a rude alert for Sashi when the plug was yanked out of her back, and she nearly tripped over her own two feet. She just barely managed to catch herself when The Creator held her still, looking her in the eyes.

“Never do that again,” The Creator hissed. “Everyday, you will charge, like it or not. Understand?”

She was talking about the falling unconscious bit, Sashi had realized. Her battery had died before she could make it through the front door, and she felt pathetic for that. And if she had charged in time, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten that horrific new upgrade.

“Yes, ma’am,” Sashi declared, with a nod.

“Join boys for new mission,” The Creator said, nudging Sashi towards the steps.

With a blank slate for a face as she peered down, the cyborg felt that sensation from earlier. The burning, the zaps; it hauntingly reminded her of what she really was. Nothing but a bionic sidekick, even if Penn smiling up at her made her systems go awry in a tingling sort of way.

Was that love was? Was that how he felt too?

She wanted to stow away the thought of asking him that too, but the pain was controlling her mind too much as she headed down to the warp pads. Her walk was slow, steady, and somewhat cautious as she took her place on the far right-

-and when Penn wrapped an arm around her, without thinking twice, Sashi’s hands flinched, her plastic nails morphing into the blades and pointing right at him-

“Sorry,” she blurted out, retracting the weapon. “I - I’m jumpy from being on the charger too long.”

Thankfully, he wasn’t equipped with a lie detector too. Instead, he gave her that dumb lopsided smile and kissed her forehead- and she tried so desperately to not scream when the burning, zapping pain returned. And perhaps it was nothing but an illusion, but just as the Part-Time Hero Trio was teleported to a new world, Sashi saw a glimmer of pain - or was it regret? - on The Creator, no, Phyllis’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you this is gonna get fucked up.


	5. all at once, everything looks different now that i see you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disney reference for the chapter title because I can.

_**~chapter five~** _

_**all at once, everything looks different now that i see you** _

_**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~** _

This mission was surprisingly easy, Sashi had come to terms with. An old time medieval world, and the team had successfully kept the phony King Rippen from ruling the land with an iron fist and cruel ways. Now, the one who deserved the crown was observing over his new kingdom, and yes, maybe it was a little comical how Penn let power go to his head in the most humorous way possible.

“I should make my birthday a national holiday,” he mused. “Can I do that?”

“It’s not impossible,” Sashi said, with a shrug.

“Then I’m doing that,” Penn declared. “Right after I promote Boone from court jester to knight. Well, actually, no, he can’t swing a sword to save his life. He can be, I don’t know, something cool. I’ll figure that out later too. I have more important things to do.”

Intrigued, Sashi glanced to him with a raised eyebrow, and she was confused when Penn’s hand was extended to her.

“Like maybe ask you for a dance?” he stammered, with an awkward smile. “After all, a King’s gotta have his Queen.”

Even if the party was below them and they were up on the balcony, the lively music could be heard outside the castle and beyond. All sorts of characters were scattered in the ballroom, twirling and laughing and rejoicing, having the times of their lives. Sashi could never fathom that sort of excitement. Humans experienced happiness over such frivolous things… like each other.

She ignored the burning zaps in her brain circuits, and took Penn’s hand, relishing in the exotic sensation of his skin and her synthetic fibers mixing together; it was a sensation she would never tire of. A computerized chirping noise of surprise slipped past her lips when he suddenly pulled her closer than close, the two of them standing in the dim light of the castle balcony. Sashi was telling herself not to glitch, for the torture to stop for just two seconds so she could enjoy this pointless moment with her silly hero boy-

-and much to the surprise of them both, Sashi released a laugh resembling the sound of beeping when Penn held her by the hips and twirled her in the air for a moment-

-yet the moment was about to be ruined the second it began.

“Sashi? You okay?” Penn said as he gently placed her back on the ground. “Your eyes are-” He hesitated for a moment. “Like, I dunno, red or something.”

“I’m fine,” Sashi lied. “Probably another glitch.”

The burning and the zapping was making her dizzy but she wouldn’t let it ruin right now.

“Dancing isn’t in my programming,” she admitted, attempting to show a bashful smile. “Will you teach me?”

Penn’s gaze was skeptical, but he nodded either way, wrapping an arm around her waist and holding one of her hands up as he began to lead them around in a little circle, here and there, stepping wherever there was room- around the throne, past the guards, behind the curtains, and Sashi repeated every motion he made, seeming to get the hang of this dancing thing.

She felt an illusion of what might be happiness, noticing his blue eyes twinkle like stars and his smile crooked but perhaps also admirable, and she could see why humans relished in simple beauties like this- that is, until Penn let out a yelp and yanked away from her.

“Geez, Sashi, what was that for?!”

He was clutching his hands close, wincing and hissing- and Sashi’s entire being went still. Penn’s hands were fiery red, as if they were …

… burning.

A sickness had been looming over her since the mission ended, and now, it hit full force like a wave. Sashi screamed - a sickening, disturbing noise that echoed through the castle and alarmed every citizen down below and close by. All eyes were on her, and she yanked at her hair, pulling it free from the perfect princess updo, and once again, she was helpless.

“Sash?” Penn muttered.

She didn’t correct him on the nickname. She flinched at his hand on her shoulder. She could only whimper a few simple words, “Zap us back.”

Penn raised an eyebrow. “We were just having fun-”

“Zap us back!” Sashi shrieked. “ _Now!_ ”

Eyes wide and jaw about to fall, Penn was clearly startled by her sudden volume and temper. He pressed a button on his MUHU, but kept his grip on his bionic sidekick, thinking it would comfort her, but it did the exact opposite. Sashi continued to whine and wheeze, until she was suddenly cooled down by the aura of being zapped back to the world she called home. She yanked herself out of Penn’s grasp, and covered her face with her hands, obviously ashamed of the scene she had caused in what seemed like a perfect instant.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to say, just as she was yanked away by The Creator.

“ _What is wrong with you?!_ ”

“Phyllis, calm down, she had a glitch again-” Penn spoke up.

A finger pointed at him accusingly, and Phyllis shook her head. “Stay out of this,” she growled, dragging Sashi away.

She didn’t look back at him. She didn’t protest against the daily checkup. She nodded at all of the sentences she was supposed to. Sashi wanted to, but she couldn’t apologize to The Creator. All she could do was accept the blackness of going into sleep mode upon getting plugged in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when I try to write a happy chapter for an angst-ridden story.


	6. you never told me true love was gonna hurt, true pain i don't deserve

_**~chapter six~** _

_**you never told me true love was gonna hurt, true pain i don't deserve** _

_**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~** _

Sashi didn’t look at The Creator when she was awoken early before the mission, before the boys were even there. She didn’t question why, either. She especially didn’t speak up when The Creator showed kindness for once, declaring that she was going to give a makeover to Sashi. All the cyborg girl did was agree with everything, like she was meant to do. She wasn’t going to speak up anymore, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t-

“Last night was not strongest moment,” The Creator muttered, as she gently braided Sashi’s hair.

“I didn’t mean it,” the bionic sidekick replied.

“Not you, it was me.”

The words settled into Sashi, and she went rigid. “Pardon me?” she asked.

With a sigh, The Creator tied the braid with a clean white piece of cloth, the closest thing she could find compared to a ribbon. “I am too harsh on you sometimes,” she admitted. “Whole team, but mostly you. It is the way I protect.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Sashi declared.

She would have nodded, but she didn’t feel like ruining her braid. For once, seeing her reflection right before here, she almost looked … pretty. She could see why human girls would fuss over their appearances so much. In fact, her perplexment rose even further when The Creator took her hand and uncapped what looked like a small bottle of red paint.

Was that a smile playing on The Creator’s face? “You may call me by my name,” she assured.

Sashi tried breathing, which caused her to shake like a leaf in the breeze. “Phyllis,” she said, in the quietest voice she could manage. She paused, pursing her lips for a moment. “Is that why you’re doing this? As a truce of sorts?”

“Could call it that,” Phyllis admitted, giving a half-hearted shrug.

“Why do you want to protect me?” Sashi asked, flinching when a slight burn creeped it’s way up her spinal wires. “I’m the one who’s meant to protect.”

Phyllis shrugged. “Everyone need someone,” she declared.

Sashi gritted her teeth, suppressing a growl as she continued to talk. She had to know the answers to this- the questions that had been buzzing in her very core ever since she came alive; if that was even the proper word to describe it. “Then why do you act the way you do?” she hissed. “Protection is duty, honor, and you don’t seem that way.”

Phyllis stopped in the middle of painting one of Sashi’s fingertips. She frowned, refusing to answer.

“Why am I glitching so much? This burning, and zapping? Why didn’t you fix it when I was plugged in?” Sashi persisted.

“Because,” Phyllis retorted. “Is for own good. Will train you.”

“Train me for wha-” A sudden shock ran through every one of Sashi’s systems and she choked out a squeak, followed by a nasty shudder. “This. It’s happening too much too soon. It’s not like my other-” She froze, eyes going wide while putting together pieces of the puzzle. “Is it on purpose?”

The nod that Phyllis gave was grim and she went back to tending to Sashi’s fingers, painting on the plastic which made up her fake fingernails.

“What will it train me for?” the cyborg inquired.

“To not get attached,” the technician declared as she started Sashi’s other hand.

Attachment? The word sort of fit in the brain circuits of the bionic sidekick. She had a definition she had seen but never grasped, and the word embedded into her mind. Needless to say, they were two very different ideas of the same exact thing. But either way she looked at it, Sashi found herself thinking of the same thing - or, rather person - no matter what.

With a crackling, static-voice, Sashi could barely look Phyllis in the eye. “Penn?” she asked.

“Yes,” Phyllis said, without the slightest hesitation. “Is to protect you two. He is human, and not always very bright boy. You are robot, and could do things both regret.”

She finished painting Sashi’s so-called nails, and twisted the top back onto the tiny bottle, getting up to leave-

-that is, until Phyllis felt her creation’s heavy hand gently take her forearm.

“Phyllis,” Sashi said, her voice starting to fizzle. “Is Penn attached to me?”

As she swallowed hard, the technician shook off the bionic sidekick’s grip and squeezed her eyes shut, stiffening her lip. “Would hate to think he is,” she said, in a soft voice that seemed foreign to her. “But do not waste time with him.”

And then, Phyllis descended halfway down the stairs, jumping off midway and swinging into her harness, ready to work, like always.

Right then and there, Sashi saw the same ancient woman who had gone through so much in thousands of years, the technician who was stoic and occasionally bitter, showing little emotion. The woman who had shown kindness temporarily, in an attempt to bond with her creation, had faded into almost nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *glances at character tags* Don't worry, the other two dudes listed will show up eventually.


End file.
